Government 'almost certain' Russian actors interfered in 2019 General Election

The Government has said it is “almost certain that Russian actors sought to interfere in the 2019 General Election” by illicitly obtaining and disseminating a leaked document on the UK/US trade deal.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab. Photo: PAForeign Secretary Dominic Raab. Photo: PA
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab. Photo: PA

In a written statement to Parliament today, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the document was posted on the social media platform Reddit.

He said: “When these gained no traction, further attempts were made to promote the illicitly acquired material online in the run up to the General Election.”

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He added: “Whilst there is no evidence of a broad spectrum Russian campaign against the General Election, any attempt to interfere in our democratic processes is completely unacceptable. It is, and will always be, an absolute priority to protect our democracy and elections.”

The 451-page bundle of documents first emerged online in October on Reddit but failed to gain traction until posted on Twitter a number of months later.

The documents were then used by former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn around two weeks before the election to raise concerns about the future of the NHS in any future trade deal with the US.

At the time Labour defended using the documents as "in the public interest".

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Reddit previously said after an investigation they had found a link between the account which originally posted the documents and a known disinformation campaign coming out of Russia.

A criminal investigation is ongoing but the Prime Minister’s official spokesman dismissed as “nonsense” suggestions that the revelation was meant to convey a tough stance on Russia after the newly-reformed Intelligence and Security Committee this morning announced they would release a long-awaited report into Russian influence in UK politics by the end of next week.